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“Dammit, Jack, don’t you knock anymore?”
Jack swivels his gaze toward me. Whatever he was about to say disappears behind his human-friendly smile. “And don’t you know how to properly greet people anymore?” To Val, he say, “Ms. Seitta, I presume?”
Val clasps Jack’s hand in greeting. I decided not to rip his hand off at the wrist for the sake of his mate who is heavy with child.
“Please call me Val. Pleased to meet you at last, Jack. This house is lovely.”
Jack looks around and nods. “It really is, isn’t it? Almost like it’s brand new.” He gives me a meaningful look that I’m having trouble deciphering. Too distracted am I by Val and how she’s sucking the spoon she used to stir her coffee.
“About that,” Val starts. “Not that I mind being hired for the job—assuming I am hired?—”
“—you’re hired,” I interject.
She pauses to smile up at me before continuing. “But the house is pristine. I mean I know there’s always things to clean up as life happens, but my agency manager made it seem like it could be a big gut job? Which I’m hoping is just a lost in translation situation because this house really is beautiful.”
“Is it? You like it?” Jack asks.
“Like it? I love it! To be honest, it’s like straight out of my dreams. If you were to ask me what my dream house would be, it would be this one.”
Something niggles the back of my mind. Something about Jack and dreams…
“That’s wonderful,” Jack replies smoothly. “And to answer your question from before, I’m usually out of town and until recently, so was Torben. We didn’t really know the status of the house so as a precaution, my family thought it wise to hire a property manager to ensure the house remains as it should for the gala.”
Val swivels her chair to face me once more. “If you’re going to be on-site, will that mean you will no longer need me to live on-site for the next three weeks?”
Behind her, Jack looks around the space in awe. At least he’s as surprised as I am by the house’s transformation.
“Oh no, please don’t go. I need you here.”
“You do?” she asks.
Oh gods. Does she not want to be here when I’m around?
“What my cousin means is that he’s so focused on his work that he doesn’t have time to worry about the important tasks of house management while also carrying on with his experiments.”
Damn his silver tongue. “That’s right. I have work to focus on, too.”
Val placed her hands to her face in a cute gesture of embarrassment. “And I interrupted you from it! Oh my god, I was in your greenhouse and everything and I disrupted your work. I’m so sorry.”
As true as that is, I was mainly annoyed because I’d thought she was Jack again. But, I’m not about to tell this delightful woman that I mistook her slight form for my cousin’s oafish one.
“Please don’t apologize. I needed a break anyway. I still do that. Take breaks. See? Like with this tea.” I salute her with my cup, then pour the piping hot liquid into it, followed by two cubes of sugar. I proceed to drink it just so, scalding my mouth and throat in the process.
Dammit, I forgot how much I hated sugar in tea. I hide my grimace by guzzling down the rest of the scorching hot tea.
Val slides off the stool. “So can I assume I meet the requirements?”
And then some. “Absolutely.”
Jack adds, “Yes, I believe the house approves. Let’s finish out the contract.”
She hops in place and claps, and it’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. “Thank you for not canceling the job even though you don’t need it. I promise that I'm one of my agency's most trusted workers, and I’ll keep the house as immaculate as it is now.”
I don't have the heart to tell her that I never wanted this job to exist in the first place. "Of course."
"Truth be told, I needed an in. I kind of left all I had behind to get here."
"How so?"
